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Impatient! Methodically, Dave is eating breakfast in his bathrobe and reading the paper. A Taurus, he doesn’t like to be pushed, nor do I like myself when I am being pushy. He still needs to shower, shave, and get dressed. … Continue reading →

Turkeys congregate around the Quan Yin statue in reverence, their wormlike skin dangling from pink noses. With impunity they flaunt the rule for silence with their gargling warbles. Deena and I are at a weeklong silent retreat at Spirit … Continue reading →

The rain beat on the windshield as the wipers did their best to keep up. On a trip to Bakersfield to visit my grandmother, my mother and three children sang songs and played games as I did my best to … Continue reading →

Our fourth day in Baja, and I am only beginning to recognize the richness of this desert. Our group is camped at the boundary between parched earth, sand, rock, dried weeds and the Sea of Cortez, a water paradise where … Continue reading →

We stood in the hallway watching her through her doorway opened just enough to peer at us as she tried to decipher who we were and what we wanted. Since we had been visiting our son in Seattle, it only … Continue reading →

Through a crack in the drapery, I witness my mother, naked and vulnerable, bathed lovingly, gently, by her hospital aide, Pat, washing her as a mother washes her child. She calls her name, but my mother is fast asleep. Full … Continue reading →

February, 2010, my mother died. It was a Thursday. Our son, Jim, was in Florida, had just moved and had still not let us know his new address. Jim was close to his grandmother and took care of her for … Continue reading →

About seven years before my mother died, I decided to create a book for her of positive memories and appreciations I had of her. My mother was not always the best mother as I was not always the best daughter. … Continue reading →

December 2006, Dave bought an electric blue Nissan 350 Z, maybe a mid-life crisis car, maybe the car he had wanted after years of driving the family minivan. After we moved in together in the 1980s, he sold his orange … Continue reading →

“What are you doing?” Dave asked. His voice belayed suspicion that things are only getting thicker. “I just want to prepare for the possibility that we can’t find homes for them.” “There’s always the SPCA.” The door that had contained … Continue reading →